A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and enjoys the company of friends and strangers. Her job takes her around the state, learning about people's health. A Quaker (no, they don't wear blue hats or sell oatmeal or motor oil), she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!

I don't tell many people this, but I was once a Goldwater Girl, and I belonged to Young Americans for Freedom. Which was, or is, a sort of proto-neo-conservative training ground for eager young folks who then considered themselves to be Republican. This was back when Republican wasn't a bad word, and conservative was just an adjective to describe their philosophy.

Wednesday the New York Post published a cartoon that's drawing lots of outrage. From the Reverend Al Sharpton to the Huffington Post, people are saying that portraying President Obama as a chimpanzee, and an assassinated one at that, is ugly and racist.